Party at the Hiawatha Artist Lofts

I had a great time this weekend at my friends open house. We had a great time and saw lots of really amazing costumes, leave it to artists to be creative, there was an amazing zebra (who split first prize in the costume contest), a man dressed as Poe's Raven, but my favorite was worn by the Master of Ceremonies who wore a black robe, a mask with antlers and carried a white staff .

There were costume contests and prizes for both adults and children and the doors were thrown open to many of the artists personal spaces. I saw lots of really amazing art and met many really nice people.
Despite the fact that I was the most covered person in the running for sexiest contest I took first prize for sexiest with my demure (but tight) Cinderella costume. The prize was mostly candy which seemed destined to ruin that sexiest body that won in the first place. I had a lot of fun running around the building from top to bottom and hope that the rest of the Halloween season lives up to the precedent set by last weekend!

Got Through Another Birthday!

Well I made it through another birthday without too much trouble. I got to eat cheesecake, go belly dancing and watch an Alfred Hitchcock movie which is none too shabby. My presents are trickling in slowly as many of them were ordered over the internet but the one I am most excited about is one I got for myself a beautiful set of stacking rings in Sky Blue, Swiss Blue and London Blue topaz. They are lovely and I can't wait for them to show up.

I also made a trip to the pumpkin patch with my friends Mike and Dan to retrieve some heirloom pumpkins with which to decorate the house.. You would not believe the variety of colors that pumpkins come in!

I'm slowly putting together my costume for Halloween so stay posted for the final result but I purchased some lovely hair with which to dress up my head and an awesome leather cut out mask that I found on Etsy plus some nifty wings that I might throw in the mix.

I also decided to redo my entire wardrobe color scheme to grays, creams and greeny blues which I managed to do for a song at Value Village. God Bless Value Village!

Africa Part 8: Going Home

Africa Part 8: Going Home

Thursday the 3rd of September and its time to leave Kenya. We wake up early and breakfast with the Changs at the Mara Leisure Lodge restaurant where they have a buffet with an omelet station. While we eat Don shows us a slide show of the pictures he has taken over the last couple of days on his computer.

It’s a long drive from the lodge back to a smoothly paved highway. Along the way we look hopefully for that elusive rhinoceros but alas it is not to be. However we do see 5 people on one small motorcycle and it isn’t the first time, back in Rabondo we were once passed by two motorcycles holding five people each an amazing sight (I believe the motorcycles serve as taxis and I wonder if they charge per person or per mile or both). We get to the nicely paved road and pass back over the mountains once again looking down into the Rift Valley. We stop along the way to pick up a few souvenirs and I get my mother a little wooden warthog because she says the warthogs don’t look anything like my chihuahua Pepe and I say they do (she thinks the African sun is addling my brain), I think you have to see them in person to understand (when they run their little tails point straight up in the air, very cute). I have nearly given up buying gifts for my mother, she never likes or uses any of the things I give her except for one ring I bought for myself which she now wears all the time. We all find some things we like: beaded jewelry, batik cards, a machete, a shot glass, and Don finds a sculpture of the big five sitting around a table shaped like Africa and sharing a bottle (there is also a giraffe who has somehow crashed the party). From there the drive is pretty quick and we don’t get stopped at any of the checkpoints along the way.

When we arrive in Nairobi we drop the Changs off at their hotel without too much trouble. Unfortunately as soon as we try to leave downtown Nairobi the traffic gets really bad. We drive past the house of parliament (it is forbidden to take pictures of it) and then sit at a roundabout (for what seems like twenty minutes but is probably ten) where we watch two traffic cops texting and talking on their cell phones. Cathy and I try to explain to Stanley that a cop in the U.S. would be fired for texting on the job, but I don’t think Stanley really understands why or even why it is relevant (you also can not take pictures of police in Kenya, maybe this is why)

Then on our way to the airport we encounter another traffic jam. The Nairobi natives get creative and decide to turn a four lane highway into a five lane (and even six lane) highway by simply driving across the median and using the oncoming lanes on the other side of the freeway (with caution blinkers on for safety reasons obviously). Cathy and I are dumbfounded (and I must admit I am also slightly impressed) and we once again try to explain to Stanley that in the U.S. this would be highly illegal and that people who did such a thing would be arrested and would go to jail, but Stanley wisely points out that there are so many people doing it that the police can not arrest them all and I am forced to agree. Upon further reflection I don’t think that I have seen a single police car (I saw one police motorcycle) in the three weeks in which I have been in Kenya (I saw lots of police at the checkpoints but never any evidence as to how they got there).

At this point I try to explain to Stanley that there are just some things we don’t do in the U.S. (including cutting in line, which is common in Kenya) which are enforceable not by any actual physical or legal repercussions, but simply by the weight of societal disapproval. Once again I think Stanley doesn’t understand or perhaps see the relevance of the point. It just doesn’t work that way in Kenya.

At the airport in Amsterdam, where we both have a layover, Cathy and I talk about the strange juxtaposition of politeness and complete disregard for rules that characterizes the Kenyan people. For instance when I knocked things over in a little kiosk in the airport in Nairobi (on two separate occasions) the owners apologized to me as if it was their fault for setting things up in such a way as to make it possible for me to do so, however no one thinks twice about just pushing in front of you in line at an ATM (or anywhere really). In fact at the grocery store both Cathy and I noticed men crowding us from behind, I thought they were perverts but in retrospect I think they were just guarding their spots (and maybe were also perverts). Cathy tells me a story about an incident in which she and a fellow American were walking with Melchizedeck and another Kenyan when her friend was knocked over by a fellow riding a bicycle. The friend was unhurt but nevertheless Melchizedeck and this other Kenyan took the bicyclist into the bushes and beat him soundly. When the Americans protested that the beating was unnecessary the Kenyan said “I was annoyed to the highest degree”. A strange people indeed. The last excitement in Amsterdam occurs for Cathy and I only heard about it later, but apparently a gentleman at her gate stripped off all his clothes and made a break for it, she thinks he was trying to escape his escort who she imagines may have been deporting him, he was carrying a bag of pills so he may have had mental health issues.

Finally let me say how much the Kenyans loved Obama especially the Luos (his father comes from that tribe) and I had to argue with several determined Kenyans who insisted that he belonged to them and would not be swayed by the simple fact that he was born in the United States. I saw Obama on buses, on posters hanging in many homes, on bags, on kitenge cloth and even bubble gum. I will end this narrative with a collection of Obama related images. Enjoy!

Africa Part 7: Safari

Africa Part 7: Safari

Monday 31st August- It’s time to start out for the Masai Mara. We eat a quick breakfast and are on our way at 7:30. We drive a long time and then stop at a burned hotel (the former Olkurruk Mara Lodge) that overlooks the Trans Mara Park. There is a gate with a Maasai guard who kindly allows us in (I think some “chai” changes hands). We wander through the remains of the structure and finally past it to a really amazing vista of the Trans Mara below. The guard sits picturesquely on a log and cleans his teeth with a chewed stick (a handy natural toothbrush if you are ever lost in the woods but still concerned about gum health, make sure you choose a non-poisonous species to get your stick from).

Stanley says he used to work at this hotel before the Maasai burned it down. Apparently when the hotel changed hands in 1998 or ‘99 they laid off a lot of people, including Stanley, and at that time somehow the new owners pissed off the local Maasai who burned it down. Don says “so they must have made them very angry” and Cathy replies “no, not really.” Apparently a Maasai only needs to be mildly irritated to burn your place of business down. Stanley adds “if you ever hit a Maasai cow you better leave quick because they will kill you if they catch you“. I later ask a Maasai if the story about the hotel is true and he claims not to know anything about it but swears the Maasai wouldn’t have done anything like that (I also check the internet when I get home and find a claim that the hotel was burned down for insurance purposes so who knows).

We enter the Trans Mara through the Oloololo Gate (oloololo means zigzag and refers to the zigzagging road we had to take down to the big open plains below). To avoid being charged for entry into the Trans Mara Park (which we have to go through to reach the Masai Mara beyond) we must put down the top of the safari vehicle (which pops up making it possible to stand and see 360 degrees around you). It is worth the slight feeling of claustrophobia you experience after driving with the roof up to save the $60 USD each so we put the roof down and continue on our merry way. Right away we start seeing animals. There are lots of zebras and wildebeests and they seem to always be together. It looks like the zebras are herding the wildebeests but probably they spend time together for protection, they even migrate to Tanzania and back together.

We see lots of giraffes and we also see some hyenas up very close after we stop over a culvert that happens to be their home (they keep peeking their heads up trying to figure out what we are doing there). Many of the animals have ox-pickers clinging to them. Ox-pickers are little birds that like to hang out on zebras, giraffes, cape buffalo, antelopes and other furry creatures. They go through the fur of their host animal looking for ticks and other pests in a symbiotic relationship that keeps everyone happy. The best part of the morning is when we see some elephants cooling down at a watering hole (see video at bottom, the baby elephant is in the bottom right corner you see him between another elephants legs, there is also video of a lioness walking and running zebras and wildebeest). They siphon water up their trunks and then spray themselves like a muddy shower. There is a little baby elephant with them and he gets very frustrated as he has not yet figured out the suction in his trunk. Instead he simply smacks it against the water ineffectually and finally gives up in frustration, it’s really cute and this is all before we even enter the Masai Mara Park!

We stop for lunch at the Mara river and have yummy fruit. The river marks the border between the Trans and Masai Mara parks so up goes the roof! There are very cute mongooses and not so cute black faced vervet monkeys hanging around the picnic area (the male monkeys had very blue balls! see picture at right, another one had a baby clinging to its tummy! see picture at left). The monkeys are sort of cute until they start stealing our food. I try to discourage the others from feeding them but they insist the monkeys are used to it and that that it is easiest to just go along with it and throw them food because it will make them go away. Of course what actually happens is that more monkeys show up (like the begging children). In fact they eventually become so bold that they steal an entire bag of bananas from are table and take them up a tree. After I go to one of the scariest choos I have yet to see I return smugly with the information that a sign next to it says very plainly not to feed the animals so as to prevent them from becoming a nuisance.

After lunch Stanley takes us to a location where a paramilitary guard will walk you along the river to show you crocodiles and hippos. He will also show you the famous crossing where the wildebeests and zebras cross the Mara River in a huge stampede to Tanzania where as our guard Tony so euphemistically says they “make romance” and have their young before crossing back. The hippos look simply like big gray lumps no matter how you try to photograph them, but they twitch their ears in a cute way. Tony is very informative and takes the time to tell us about many of the animals habits and how much they weigh and such. He also carries an AK47 which he is nice enough to show us up close. He is extremely casual with his gun swinging it in a jaunty (and slightly unnerving way) and frequently placing the butt of the gun on the ground and leaning with his hand on the barrel.

Directly after leaving the Mara River we cross very briefly into Tanzania (though there is no stamp on my passport to prove it). We stop at the border between Tanzania and Kenya which is marked by a rather unimpressive monument that has a “T” on one side of the top and a “K” on the other. Here we take pictures, posing inside the safari vehicle and next to it (please note that the picture of me and Cathy in our van was taken by Don Chang). During the course of the day we see nearly all of the “big five” ( the big five= cape buffalo, lion, rhinoceros, leopard and elephant) spotting a male lion and (to my great delight) a leopard (though only very briefly), however we never do find a rhinoceros.

When we get to the camp where we are supposed to stay we are dumbfounded by how nice it is (they welcome us with warm scented towels and juice). We were told it was a tent camp but this is the first time I’ve ever seen a tent with a hardwood floor, beds and a tiled bathroom with permanent plumbing fixtures in the back. The first thing I do is take a shower and for the first time since I got here (three weeks!) I feel really truly clean. There is a restaurant that serves fabulous 3 course meals (included in the price, don’t ask how much!) and a small pool (I finally get to wear a bikini!).

We stay two nights at the Mara Leisure Camp and spend our days looking at the animals in the park. The schedule is pretty intense (Cathy and Stanley keep up a good pace) although what you mostly do is hurry up and wait, rushing from spot to spot and then sitting with the engine off while you look at animals or hope they appear. Don takes many pictures which also slows us down some as he likes to take many shots. With my short attention span I am bored quickly but I use the down time to update my journal and I spend the driving time standing up with the wind in my face like a dog with its head out the window.

Our last day in the park we spend the morning out driving and in the evening Don and Marian go to a Maasai village while I sit by the pool. As I sit and write in the hot African sun I can hear the sound of Maasai cattle returning home, the ringing of the cowbells is punctuated by the occasional soft lowing of the cows. The cows we see look so hungry. Kenya is having the worst drought in decades and the Maasai are in mourning for their dying cattle. We even see male sheep and goats with belted flaps hanging around their waists. Stanley calls it “sheep family planning” and as silly as that sounds it is because the Maasai can not afford any more mouths to feed.

Africa Part 6: Lake Victoria/Ruma Park/Kilgores

Africa Part 6: Lake Victoria/Ruma Park/Kilgores

29th August, Saturday morning Melchizedeck, Mike (whom I met yesterday, he helped me buy my tyre sandals), the Changs, Cathy and I, all pile into Stanley’s safari vehicle and set off for Lake Victoria which borders Tanzania and Uganda as well as Kenya. On the way there we pass several amusingly named places such as the “Hotel Shaq Attaq” and the “Miami Heat Center Bar” we also pass many huts with grass roofs and mud walls. Apparently the women make the buildings (from what I gather they do most of the work: cooking, carrying water, building the huts; many men spend all their time getting drunk) there are large and small huts and we are told that the small ones are actually for grain storage.

When we get to Lake Victoria we see many naked children bathing in the water and people filling containers with water. This is a little concernful since Cathy has just finished telling us that there are fresh water snails in the lake that carry a parasite that causes a disease called schistosomiasis and that we should avoid getting wet. People also fish in the lake for tilapia and tiny little fish called omena. The omena are very small and they catch them in large very fine nets before drying them in the sun. Cathy has tried them and she says she doesn’t care for them very much. There are lots of animals nearby and I take pictures of some pigs sleeping under a truck. There is also an extremely handsome and picturesque young man nearby who I also photograph.

The children at the lake are very annoying. Cathy and the others decide to go for a ride in a boat, Marian and I decline based on our concern about falling in the water and getting sick (I also think it’s a good idea for someone to stay near our vehicle since it has all our stuff in it). The children follow me and Marian everywhere in a flock, like little irritating planets orbiting a sun. Some of them even occasionally dart in to pluck at Marian’s shirt as if she is some kind of celebrity they need to touch. Finally I turn and catch one in the act, I snap my fingers at them and say “stop that” loudly. All the kids jump back frightened and I add a “hapana” which means “no” in Swahili. After that they stay farther back but they don’t go away and whenever Marian tries to take a picture a cluster of little naked boys appear in front of her . As we leave the lake I see a young man with twisted limbs crawling along the ground, I suspect that he has cerebral palsy like Define. I mention it to Cathy and she says there is more need in the world than aid.

We decide we should go to Ruma National Park to see a certain type of antelope that is found only in that one place on earth: the roan antelope. However on the way we stop at what I will call the Happy Infant Complex to check on a well that Melchizedeck helped hand dig and Cathy contributed a generous sum of money to buy and install a pump for. When we arrive the minister tells us that they are not using that well because a church in New York donated lots of money to dig a bigger well and install a pumping system on it. This is good because the compound is a school for orphans, though I never actually see one, and the minister is selling the water to the community for 3ksh per 5 gallon container. We are shown a very large church that has no seats in it the minister says they move chairs in when they need them (which seems odd to me, why would they take them out?). All in all the whole place seems like a prop or a set that is waiting for people to appear. Nobody ever does ask what he did with the money Cathy donated for the pump.

Ruma is a beautiful park very lush and green. We stop at the gate and they tell us about the guest house which can be had for 5000ksh per night and sleeps at least eight.. It even has a kitchen and bathroom with a tub (something we haven’t seen since we arrived). But the best part is the view looking down over the park. It’s breathtaking and the idea of waking up and having a cup of coffee while watching the sun rise over the park is mouth watering, but we have Melchizedeck and Mike to drop off so we vow that if we are ever in the area again this is where we will stay.

We do see the roan antelope (see picture below left) as well as a few other animals but it is nothing like the animals that are to come. I also try my first sugarcane which you “eat” by stripping off the green outer part with your teeth and then gnawing on the white fibrous inside to extract the sweet juice (it is very messy and sticky). As the sun sets we head back to Awendo to drop off the guys thinking that we have beds waiting in Rongo, however when we call to check we discover that the rooms may have been given away. I am very frustrated because I know that the Sugarland will be as loud tonight as it was last night and I am adamant about not sleeping over a disco again plus I’m miserable because my throat hurts. I insist I want to go to Rongo where there may be a couple of rooms waiting. Everyone is cranky and me and Don exchange unpleasantries. However Melchizedeck kindly drives me to Rongo and indeed there is a room where I sleep like a baby. Cathy who accompanies me however is not so lucky and sleeps very little, she is very unhappy because she loves to dig wells and this trip was a big disappointment in that regard.

In the morning we see Melchizedeck and Helen for the last time before Stanley comes woth Don and Marian to pick us up. I am very sad to lose Melchizedeck I have grown very fond of him over the last two and a half weeks. We set off for Kilgores the next leg in our trip to the Masai Mara. We stay at the Farmers Lodge after a long drive. During the drive the safari van starts acting up, something to do with the radiator, and we keep having to stop by the side of the road where we stand in the hot sun and get pestered by children until Stanley once again deems the van ready for transport. This happens several times. Finally Stanley fixes the problem in a more permanent fashion by putting curry powder in it. I’m pretty sure that isn’t good for your engine but it seems to work and it makes the car smell nice.

In Kilgores we check in at the Farmers Lodge and after a quick lunch Stanley goes off to repair the van. The Changs head to their room and me and Cathy go for a long walk. We ramble around the countryside looking at flowers and other things, I even see a poinsettia in bloom! We pass many children and pleasantly they no longer yell “mzungu” at us in this part of Kenya, but there is a lot of waving and shouting of “how are you” followed immediately by “I’m fine” without pause for response.

When we return to the hotel the power is out so we sit outside in chairs brought by my new friend William (a member of the hotel staff who takes a shine to me) and write in our journals for a while as the sun sets. Stanley returns in time for dinner and my throat is feeling much better so everyone is looking forward to tomorrow. We should arrive in the Park just in time for an evening game drive. Once again there is a band playing somewhere near by, but I fall asleep with little trouble and the T.V. on.

Africa Part 5: Sare Awendo/Rabondo

Africa Part 5: Sare Awendo/Rabondo

Wednesday 26th August : Our merry band has been reduced to five (Melchizedeck, Don and Marian Chang, Cathy and I) and today we leave Nakuru and head towards Rabondo, I‘m going to miss the Hotel Kunste. As I head up the stairwell to my room for the last time I note in the hallway a poster of Michael Jackson in his Bad era. I might have suspected the poster was recent (as in post mortem) except for it’s extremely faded condition and the fact that there is an equally faded (and random) poster of Sylvester Stallone as Rambo at the top of the stairs.

The way to Rabondo leads up into the mountains and through tea country. Melchizedeck is happy to finally be headed home (to see his wife Helen and his children) and he informs us with cheer that only the top three leaves of each branch are picked (and I assume the branch is then left alone so they can grow and be picked again). That seems like a lot of work to me going over each bush by hand picking just three leaves at a time. You can see the workers in the fields carrying huge bags to fill with tea, they live nearby and their houses are supplied by the corporations and look very well kept but extremely uniform. They remind me of that extremely annoying song about conformity “Little Boxes” where there are houses on the hillside that “all look just the same”.

We pass plantation after plantation of tea (the plants have a funny smell that reminds me of skunk cabbage) and stop for a while in Kericho where there is a Tea Hotel. Out on the balcony as we sip our chai and eat our “gateau with suitable sauce” (which turns out to be very dry pound cake with no discernable sauce at all) we see a little monkey hovering around the edges of the patio. At first we find it adorable and hurry to take pictures but soon we discover that he is a little beggar who comes closer and closer scooting in to grab anything dropped be the guests. Don “accidentally” drops some crumbs nearby so we can get a better picture. I’m sure many guests “drop” things for the monkey which the staff informs me is a vervet monkey. As we leave the Tea Hotel we pass a sign which says: IF YOU MUST DRINK AND DRIVE-DRINK TEA which I think is stellar advice.

Because of some misunderstanding we are not going to stay in the Guest House in Rabondo so we check into the Sugarland Hotel (we have gone from tea country to sugar land apparently) where my room is full of mosquitoes though luckily I have managed so far not to be bitten. I am frightened of the bathroom and decide I will have no part of it aside from the toilet (which turns out to leak every time you flush, eventually they switch me to a different room with an equally scary bathroom). The electric showerheads are known as “widow makers “ according to Cathy and apparently will give you an electric shock if you make contact with them. Besides which they are just hanging right in the middle of the room with no curtain or anything.

Upon waking the next day Cathy and I decide to go for a walk around town. For some reason a strange gentleman takes a shine to us and follows us around town singing and talking to himself. Even though we ask he won’t leave us alone, Cathy tells me that he is probably mentally ill and needs medication. Yesterday I noticed that my throat felt a little tender and unfortunately it will remain that way getting worse and then better throughout the time we are in Rabondo. Since my throat is fine by the time I get home I never go to the doctor which means we never do find out what the heck was wrong with me (we suspect tonsillitis since I am on an antibiotic which would tend to rule out strep) but it makes eating and even drinking painful and difficult for a few days. I eat very little for a while although the food here is wonderful.

Today we are going to drop off an all-terrain wheelchair that has been shipped in legs from the U.S. for a girl here in Rabondo who has cerebral palsy and can not walk. Her name is Define (pronounced duh-fee-nuh) and her family lives on the side of a hill and is having trouble getting her around. They are all excited when the wheelchair arrives and once she has been placed in the wheelchair and wheeled up and down the hill we are invited inside for formal introductions. They go around the room introducing the family and welcoming us to their home. After they are done I introduce myself, say where I am from and thank them for welcoming us into their home, Don and Marian do the same. This seems to work.

I am amazed by all the good Cathy has done in Africa and especially in Rabondo, she works tirelessly. After dropping off the wheelchair and stopping for some of Helen’s yummy Chai we stop at a would be clinic that is not a clinic despite many donations (I‘m not clear on what is going on there but I do get the impression that there are opposing forces at work in the community that might be holding things up). Next door is a dispensary that fortunately is open and stocked, although they are still in need of donations to buy medications. The friendly nurses show us their medication supplies and the birthing room. I jokingly ask them about my throat thinking someone there might look inside my mouth, instead they just hand me some antibiotics and pain relievers which I give to Melchizedeck later (for his kids in case they need them). At his house that evening we have curried eggs, rice and sukuma wiki. Helen is a superb cook (you can see her at left) and I do my best despite the pain in my throat.

Friday is market day in Awendo and I am on the hunt for sandals made from tyres (British spelling) for Mike. Before setting out we stop at the internet café and I check my email and Facebook. When I’m done I sit on the balcony outside the internet café and watch a woodworker at work. In front of the shop are many caskets in different sizes and colours. It reminds me of the fact that since Cathy was here a year and a half ago at least three people she knew have died, many of them from lack of medicine. When Cathy is done we head off to market trying to find a bank and my tyre shoes. As we wander I learn that many of the clothes that we donate to places like Goodwill and Value Village in the States are packaged in bales and sent here for purchase and resale. Some of them are nice, I find a pretty skirt with pink hibiscus on it that I really like. We see roosters and hens with their feet tied together, a dog sleeping with his head in a basket of carrots and many cars, trucks and motorcycles all hooting (honking) away.

Later we run a few more errands and check out Melchizedeck’s tilapia pond. Melchizedeck is very industrious (he even has his own sugar cane fields). I’m pretty miserable throughout the day (my throat hurting very much) and I really just want to be back at the hotel lying down but it is interesting to travel around the area seeing the wells that have been dug (I think by Cathy and Melchizedeck). Most interesting is a hand dug well in progress with a man at the bottom. I think it‘s neat because you can see the different layers of rock on the way down. He is 35’ below us and chipping away at rock with a pickaxe. I shout “hello“ down to him and he “hellos“ back. Every once in a while they lower down a bucket which he fills with rocks and sends up.

However clearly the most entertaining thing we see that day is a very drunken gentleman who calls himself Mr. Fantastic (he gives many other names as well). He climbs in the cab of Melchizedeck’s truck and won’t get out. He wants us to run over cows and shouts “over knock” every time he sees one. He leans over and tries to talk to Don through the open side window, his breath is smelly. He admits to Cathy that he has been drinking as he waves an empty bottle around and Cathy is monumentally unsurprised. When we get to the well, Melchizedeck starts pumping away to show us the water and “Mr. Fantastic” lays directly under the spout to get a sip heedless of his clothes (such as they are). When he tries to talk to me I give him a lecture on the evils of drinking, tell him it is possible to stop and recommend AA but I think it goes over his head because immediately afterward he tells Melchizedeck he likes me. He follows us everywhere until finally after telling Marian that he doesn’t like white people he leaves (we later find out that Melchizedeck gave him 20ksh to go away and get alcohol). I kind of miss him, he was pretty entertaining.

That night in my room I discover that I am sleeping over a live band. I think about dressing up and going dancing (if you can‘t beat ‘em join ‘em) but I’m guessing I can’t talk Cathy into going with me. You would think the noise would be a bigger problem but I’m so tired that I manage to sleep anyway. Stanley our safari driver has showed up and after a day trip tomorrow to Lake Victoria and Ruma National Park we will be off to the Masai Mara. Starting tomorrow it really is a vacation!!!